Feb 17

Make Your User Interface Intuitive By Encouraging Experimentation

Posted by: Josh Walsh in User Experience.

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The design industry is plagued with the misconception that product manuals are evil. These designers believe that your product should be intuitive enough to use without a manual.

While there is a certain truth to this, there are many viable reasons for product manuals to be used. There needs to be a certain level of competency that can be achieved without the manual.

A manual is never an excuse for poor design.

Your product should be designed to encourage people to experiment. That’s how people learn how your product works, and it is also how they discover advanced functionality.

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Dear HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: Flash is more flexible

Nate Klaiber is spot on. I had this same conversation with Jason at ThunderTech a while ago. As much of a proponent I am for web standards, it’s not the technology that’s to blame.

One of the key issues in this space is the lack of a good IDE for developing media rich websites without Flash. That’s what makes Flash so attractive to designers, the ease of creating these multimedia based websites. Dreamweaver doesn’t come close.

Over the last few years we’ve seen major Flash studios, like Fantasy-Interactive, make the move to web standards.

Even though HTML/CSS/JS is far more semantic, more accessible and more flexible, we don’t possess the tools to build a really top-notch IDE.

The bigger question is… should we bother building such an IDE? I’m not so sure. It’s the transparency of the markup that makes HTML/CSS/JS so accessible. Abstracting that markup in an IDE would probably bring along the same issue’s that plagues Flash today.

Feb 09

Why you should eliminate “I agree” checkboxes

Posted by: Josh Walsh in Design.

The “I agree” checkbox has become an interface standard on registration forms. “I agree to the terms and conditions.” While it’s purpose is generally understood by the consumer, it is a key source of frustration for people registering for accounts.

eBay's Registration, as an example

Why it’s overlooked:

  • Checkboxes are small, particularly ones which aren’t grouped in a fieldset;
  • They are typically at the bottom of a form – Out of sight out of mind;
  • They are placed in close proximity to a larger button which takes the focus.

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Feb 04

Memory Eternal, Pauline Nelson

Posted by: Josh Walsh in Life.

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Late last week, our dear friend Pauline Nelson passed away after a battle with cancer. Pauline was not just my client, she was my friend and a mentor to me for nearly 10 years.

Back in 2001, while a music major in college, I started doing some freelance work on the web. Pauline, an independent jeweler in the Los Angeles area, became my first client. Not only was she my first client, but she stayed with me for 9 more years until her passing last week.

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